BLESSING AT THE BAR

BLESSING AT THE BAR BE AT THE BAR provides motivation, education and inspiration for Barristers hustling for a successful career.

There is no single exam that makes you a barrister, and no single form to fill in. Qualifying in England and Wales runs ...
06/10/2026

There is no single exam that makes you a barrister, and no single form to fill in.

Qualifying in England and Wales runs through three components in order, an academic stage, the Bar course and pupillage, with the Inns, the scholarships, the Pupillage Gateway and Call hanging off them. Our new guide sets out the whole route stage by stage, including the dates for the current cycle and the gap most people miss: that Call to the Bar marks the end of the vocational stage, not the end of qualification.

https://f.mtr.cool/abqrtnf01d


The most interesting thing about a lawyer is very rarely the law, and Yemi Oladapo is a good example. He is a practising...
05/10/2026

The most interesting thing about a lawyer is very rarely the law, and Yemi Oladapo is a good example. He is a practising lawyer who also makes documentary films about music, creative culture and the African diaspora in the West, including films with Oxlade, Ayanfe Olarinde, Tempoe and Bizzle. He talked to us about where that started, what a good day off looks like, and the one thing outside the law that has made him better inside it.

Read the full interview and watch four of his films in Out of Hours, from Out of Office: https://f.mtr.cool/cn0nep7fpz

02/10/2026

When your notes, your fee records and your contacts all live in different apps, none of them talk to each other. That's why Blessing built Legal OS, the Notion workspace she has spent at least three years building and still uses to run her practice.

Every case carries its own tasks and rolls up its total fees, so you can see which areas of practice and which clients pay best, and which good clients you haven't spoken to in six months. Your papers never move: Legal OS holds private links to documents that stay where they already live.

🔗 Watch the full live walkthrough and explore Legal OS at the link in bio.

BLESSING AT THE BAR is in this year's Counsel Bar Student & Pupillage Applicant Guide!You'll find us on page 22 of the 2...
30/09/2026

BLESSING AT THE BAR is in this year's Counsel Bar Student & Pupillage Applicant Guide!

You'll find us on page 22 of the 2026 guide from Counsel and LexisNexis, which goes to universities and Bar members throughout the year.

If you're starting the Bar course this term, the free guides are the place to begin: the Bar Course Prep Starter Guide, the Mini-Pupillage Application Guide, the Legal CV Guide and Template, and our guides to analysing judgments and to legal research. If pupillage applications are on your list this year, the Pupillage Application Research Spreadsheet is free too. When term starts, the Civil Litigation Syllabus Notes (2026/27) and Criminal Litigation Syllabus Notes (2026) take you through the syllabus, built by a practising barrister.

Browse the Bar Student library at blessingatthebar.com/collections/bar-student-guide, and thank you to Counsel and LexisNexis for having us.

🔗 Link in bio





The Pupillage Gateway opens for applications on Monday 4 January 2027 and closes on Thursday 28 January at 23:59, and ex...
29/09/2026

The Pupillage Gateway opens for applications on Monday 4 January 2027 and closes on Thursday 28 January at 23:59, and extensions are not granted.

That leaves the months before January for the work that makes an application strong: researching the sets you want to apply to, including each set's policy on AI, practising written answers to legal problem questions, and preparing for interview before you are invited to one. Vacancies can be browsed on the Gateway from Monday 23 November.

The Pupillage Application + Interview Bundle brings together AI at the Bar, the Example Legal Problem Questions, the Pupillage Interview Question Bank and the Pupillage Application Research Spreadsheet for £35.99, and if you are just starting out, the research spreadsheet is also free on its own.

Save this post for the dates, and check the Gateway and each set's own timetable before relying on them.

https://f.mtr.cool/utrzfrbkm6


Gifted | Kitchen E20 hosted us for this dinner.If you want to take a client somewhere that feels a little bit special, e...
28/09/2026

Gifted | Kitchen E20 hosted us for this dinner.

If you want to take a client somewhere that feels a little bit special, elegant without being stuffy and with service that makes you look good for choosing it, Kitchen E20 at The Stratford is where we would send you. Start at the bar, where the bartenders will make any classic you ask for or recommend something off-menu, then order a few small plates and a few mains to share. It is easy to reach without changing trains, it works as well for a date or a working lunch as it does for a client dinner, and the team remember you when you come back.

The full Table for Two for Out of Office Issue 001, with what we ordered and what it cost:
https://f.mtr.cool/t9j5cg8g39

Unfair dismissal. Discrimination. Whistleblowing. Restrictive covenants.All accurate — and they tell you almost nothing ...
24/09/2026

Unfair dismissal. Discrimination. Whistleblowing. Restrictive covenants.

All accurate — and they tell you almost nothing about what employment law actually involves day to day.

Our new piece covers what the work is really like, who it suits, the route in, and three ways to test whether it is your practice area. Including the parts people find out late: that these cases turn on the evidence rather than the argument, and that the emotional register sits closer to family or housing work than to commercial litigation.

https://f.mtr.cool/a6p0bmjwkx


A first moot is far less daunting when you know what the judge is looking for.The second edition of the Student Mooting ...
24/09/2026

A first moot is far less daunting when you know what the judge is looking for.

The second edition of the Student Mooting Guide takes you from reading the moot problem to answering questions from the bench, covering research, skeleton arguments, the bundle and oral submissions, including how to address the court and how to take a judge to an authority.

It now comes with three Word templates laid out in court format, a skeleton argument, a moot bundle index and a legal research note, each with drafting notes from BLESSING AT THE BAR beside every part, together with a moot bundle checklist. It is built by a practising barrister and costs £14.99.

Get the Student Mooting Guide at blessingatthebar.com.

https://f.mtr.cool/fu6u2s5jqd


Pupillage applications open on 4 January 2027, and the preparation that makes an application stand out happens long befo...
22/09/2026

Pupillage applications open on 4 January 2027, and the preparation that makes an application stand out happens long before then.

To help with that, three BLESSING AT THE BAR resources have been updated this September. AI at the Bar is now in its second edition, updated for the BSB's guidance on AI and with eighteen prompts designed to make you do the thinking. The Student Mooting Guide has been rewritten and now comes with court-format skeleton argument, bundle index and research note templates, each with drafting notes beside every part.

The Pupillage Application + Interview Bundle now includes AI at the Bar alongside the Example Legal Problem Questions, the Pupillage Interview Question Bank and the Pupillage Application Research Spreadsheet, for £35.99.

Explore the new editions at blessingatthebar.com, and look out for the key Pupillage Gateway dates next week.

https://f.mtr.cool/cafjpcv8rs


Both Civil and Criminal Litigation are compulsory on the Bar Course. Nobody sits one and not the other.Litigation Syllab...
21/09/2026

Both Civil and Criminal Litigation are compulsory on the Bar Course. Nobody sits one and not the other.

Litigation Syllabus Notes Bundle — both sets, current editions, £162 rather than £179.98.
Litigation Syllabus Study Bundle — both sets plus both syllabus spreadsheets, £225 rather than £249.96.

https://f.mtr.cool/yfz2kxp2s4

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